


Finding Family

by KtheG



Category: Warrior Nun (TV)
Genre: F/F, Lilith owns a bookshop, Marriage, Mary is a teacher, Modern AU, Stargazing, solving family problems, they are the cutest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:46:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26801626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KtheG/pseuds/KtheG
Summary: Lilith and Mary in a non-OCS setting.
Relationships: Sister Lilith/Shotgun Mary (Warrior Nun)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	Finding Family

**Author's Note:**

> here's a little bit of lilshotgun for you guys on this fine weekend.

When Mary had first told Lilith the story of her mother’s conviction and wrongful imprisonment, Lilith had held her girlfriend at the time and quietly filed away some thoughts for a later time. She had gone to her family lawyer and asked questions, had gotten the case of Lenna Delacroix to one of the organizations that deals combats wrongful convictions, and after 19 years, Mary would be able to see her mother outside of the prison in Chicago. Lilith had arranged for Lenna to stay in one of the apartment buildings Beatrice owned and had told Mary to have a happy reunion with her mother. Lilith wanted to give the two of them time to get to know one another outside of cinderblock walls, and so she had planned to give the two of them the weekend. Mary had taken her up on the offer but making dinner plans to introduce Lilith as her fiancée to her mom.

Lilith to meet her mother, Lilith freaks. The Fuck. Out. She decides to wear her nicest suit, feeling like meeting her fiancée’s mother _in person_ is very different than hearing the stories Mary has told her. So Lilith is like freaking out, and she's prepared answers for all sorts of questions she could be asked and she buzzes around the house for _days_ and there's nothing Mary can do to get her to calm down. Anyway, when they get there, the first thing Lenna does is wrap Lilith in this bear hug (which Lilith has _never_ experienced before, so Lilith freaks out even more) and Lilith doesn't know what to do with her hands, so she just like, is standing there feeling so awkward, but Lenna hugs her for long enough that Lilith eventually hugs her back, and that's that. Lenna considers Lilith her own daughter now.

Lilith starts going to Lenna with all sorts of things that she never could ask her mothers. She feels kind of stupid, asking for recipes and spice help or for embarrassing stories from Mary as a child. But she begins to love the time she spends with Mary's mom, until one day, she breaks down over the cake they're making together while Mary is at the school with some of the kids from the neighborhood until their parents can pick them up after work. Lilith isn't even expecting it, and she doesn't even know she's crying until Lenna's hand lands on her shoulder and pulls her into a hug. "I'm sorry I've never had this before." And that's all Lilith manages to say on the topic, leaving Lenna confused as she holds this stoic woman in her arms. Lilith pulls herself together quickly, way too quickly in Lenna's opinion, and they get back to the assembling of the cake. Mary comes home shortly after, and the moment in the kitchen isn't mentioned until a few days later, when Mary is sitting down for lunch with her mother while Lilith is at the bookstore getting ready for the Friday night reading. "Mary, I have a question about Lilith's childhood, but I'm not sure it's appropriate to ask." Mary lets out a sigh, getting up to prepare some tea for the explanation she's about to give. "You have to know that there's a lot _I_ don't even know, and there's some that I can't tell you, but I'll give you some background."

Lenna nods, accepts the tea her daughter has prepared, and they move into the living room. Mary sits there for a minute to gather her thoughts before she speaks. "Do you know the de le Cruz family?" When Lenna nods, Mary continues. "Well they had two daughters, twins, and being a family of their status, there were lots of expectations, obviously. But Lilith and her twin, Delilah, they did their best growing up. They went to the best schools, had the best educations, studied under the best tutors. Anyway, Lilith and Delilah split when they were 16, Delilah leaving the family and Lilith behind, so Lilith had to bear the expectations alone. And it wasn't easy, it's obviously caused a lot of trauma, but the gist of it, is that Lilith grew up in a very cold household with very little physicality. Hugs are new for her, positive attention is new for her, and having a mother figure is new to her. So she's really thankful, she just doesn't know how to deal with this yet. But it doesn't mean she doesn't want it."

Mary's explanation makes a lot of Lilith's actions begin to make sense, and Lenna's heart breaks for her daughters fiancée. As she becomes privy to the wedding plans and starts to have words with Mary about it, she asks who would be walking Lilith down the aisle. Beatrice had volunteered, being Lilith's oldest friend, but Lenna offers up an idea that changes the whole wedding plans. "Mary, do you think Lilith would be opposed to _me_ walking her down the aisle?" Mary pauses to think about it, and after a few minutes, and a couple of exchanged text messages, Mary looks up and before she can even get the words out herself, Lilith bursts through the door to their house, drops the groceries she's carrying and races into Lenna's arms like a small child coming home from school. The _yes_ gets muffled in Lenna's shoulder, but she can feel the happiness radiating off the younger woman.

Lilith had been perfectly content to completely cut her mothers off from the big life events in her family, but Mary and Lenna had talked her through some very sound reasoning ("you don't want to regret it later") and so she sends them an invitation to the wedding.

She kind of hates how hopeful she gets when she drops the stack of save the dates off at the post office. She knows the list is small, and she and Mary had been meticulous about who they would invite, not wanting to overwhelm their space, and she kind of hoped that they wouldn't RSVP, that they would let her down _one more time_ so she could write them off forever (but deep down, in the depths of her heart? Lilith wanted them there.) So they send out the invites, and the months pass. RSVP's come in the form of phone calls from their friends, Facebook messages from those who they don't have current numbers for, and Lilith sees nothing from her mothers. There's no text or phone call, nothing in the mail, and Lilith comes _so close_ to leaving them out of the catering count. But she doesn't, a sliver of hope still in her chest. It gets quite close to the wedding, the day before in fact, when there's a knock on their door, and lo and behold, there stand Galilea and Cecilia. Lilith doesn't have any words, can't seem to move from her spot in front of the door, but she hears Mary's voice call out from the kitchen "baby girl who's at the door?!" and so she steps aside to let them in, still not having said a word. Her mothers walk through their house, taking in the decorations, the pictures of Lilith's new family, the one she had made all on her own, the one that loved her like they never could. And when Mary comes out of the kitchen, holding the chefs knife in between a towel (she had been cleaning up from dinner) she palms the knife and throws it at Lilith's mothers. It won't cause any damage to the wall, but it gets her point across very well.

"What are you two doing here? You could have called before showing up at our doorstep. It's impolite these days to show up unannounced." Mary's words are biting, and they help bring Lilith back to the moment. She pulls the knife from the wall, walks on autopilot to deposit in the sink and then starts fixing tea right away. She knows her mothers, even after all these years, and she knows they expect a proper conversation. Lilith just hopes she can get them out of the house before Lenna comes over to finalize some of the wedding plans. (Lilith is very afraid of what two Delacriox women would do to her mothers.) But luck is not on her side, and Mary's mother returns from the bakery earlier than expected. "Mary, who's this?" There's no need for a formal introduction, Lenna can see the resemblance to Lilith closely, but she wants a confirmation before she lays into the women who damaged their own daughter. "This is Cecilia and Galilea de la Cruz. Lilith's mothers." Lenna is polite, shakes their hands, introduces herself, but she quickly makes her way into the kitchen. She pulls to tea cups out of Lilith's hands and pulls Lilith into a hug, offering silent support. When the kettle whistles, they carefully pour the tea together and take it into the living room. Lilith sits with Mary on the couch, her mothers across from them in the sitting chairs, and Lenna, bless her soul, takes a seat on the, admittedly very comfortable, piano bench. (She had played that piano more in the last few months than Lilith had in years, and it made Lilith itch to get back into the habit.) "We got your invitation. Is Delilah coming?" Cecilia asks, tone firm but question hesitant. If Delilah is there, they will finally be able to see their daughters together again. Lilith takes a sip of her tea (it's bitter, she's forgotten to put in the milk she likes) and ignores the question, letting Mary take the lead.

"Delilah has told us she'll be there. Will you two be or are you here to flaunt your presence before walking away from your daughter again?" Mary is sharp and to the point, letting the two de la Cruz women she means business. Lenna hides a chuckle behind her teacup and reaches over to give Lilith's knee a squeeze. There was still so much she didn't know about her daughters fiancée, but what she did know was enough. "We were hoping you'd still let us come, had planned on being there for you, Lilith. In fact, I think Galilea has a question to ask, isn't that right dear?" Cecilia throws her wife under the bus in her nervous state. Galilea coughs, the spotlight unexpected. "Yes, um, I was wondering who is going to walk you down the aisle?" Lenna sets her teacup down on the coffee table with probably more force than necessary and Mary jumps up, ready to defend her mother in the oncoming smack down. "I am," Lenna says. There's no room for debate, and it takes Lilith's mothers aback. "But, it is customary for a member of the bride's family to pass her off to her spouse." "And I am part of Lilith's family." Lenna look Galilea dead in the eyes, daring her to deny the fact, to name a time when she and her wife had stood up for Lilith, supported their own daughter. "I am more her mother than you two have ever been, which is a shame, because the young woman my daughter is about to marry is the most amazing person on the planet. I couldn't have asked for anyone better for my Mary and it is _no thanks_ to you two. Lilith has found a new family, and she has made the decision, and I will support whatever she chooses, even if it is to have you to remove from the wedding all together." Lilith is crying (she hates crying, but she hates crying in front of her mothers’ even more because it means she's _weak_ and they're going to send her to her room for not being able to control her emotions.)

Mary turns to face her fiancée, who has a death grip on her teacup and has refused to look up at all during the conversation. The body language alone is enough of a sign for Mary, but when Lilith sets down her cup, gently, on the coffee table? Mary stands aside and lets her fiancée do all the talking. "You were supposed to take care of me. To teach me what love is. And you did, for a little while, but then you became obsessed with having an heir, and heir to what? Your small principality in Africa? I don't want that! I never wanted that. And yet you never let us live a life with other options. Delilah," her voice cracks, "Delilah fucking left in the middle of the night when we were sixteen! All she left was her phone number and that was it! She wouldn't talk to me, _for years_ because she thought I was too weak to get out from under you. I lost everything that night. You might have lost a daughter, but I lost _my family._ And so yeah, Lenna is walking me down the aisle, and if you don't like it, go fuck yourselves." With that, Lilith turns and bolts out the front door, barely stopping to grab her shoes. The four women in the room stand frozen. Lilith had never said any of that aloud, and Mary only knew because Lilith showed her the journal she started keeping a few years before they met. (It was a recommendation from the therapist she was seeing at the time, and she's kept up with it ever since. Mary is tempted to give her mothers the same journal.) Eventually, Mary manages to come out of her stupor and run after Lilith, trusting her mother to deal with the mess Cecilia and Galilea had created by showing up unannounced, the night before their wedding. Mary grabbed the car keys and her wallet along with both the phones on the little entry table and left the house with one last look to her mother.

She found Lilith eventually, in the park by the school, laying in the grass looking up at the sky, hand in the air and tracing the constellations. "Anything new out yet or is the 21st of September a lie about the start of fall?" Mary asked, announcing her presence. Lilith didn't say anything, just pointed to a fading Sagittarius. "It's almost gone, winters almost here." Mary plopped down beside Lilith, handing over the blanket they kept in the car and laying down next to her fiancée. They watched the stars for what felt like hours, tracking the satellites and counting shooting stars (there were three, four if you ask Mary, but Lilith always thought she was confusing the satellites and the stars.) Mary asked all the stories she already knew, putting Lilith's astronomy and physics masters to good use (she was smarter than she let on, knowing all about space and what it took to get there) but Mary just loved hearing Lilith talk about what she loved. She hoped Lilith's mothers could come to learn this side of their daughter, to hear her talk about her hopes and dreams. Could include them in Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas gift giving. But she knew that was a long way off, they'd have to get through the wedding first, and that was even if Cecilia and Galilea wanted to stay. When Mary finally received a text from her mother saying that Galilea and Cecilia had left the house but were still planning on coming to the wedding if it was okay with Lilith, she decided it was time to head home and warm up. (September nights weren't the warmest these days, and Mary didn't want Lilith to catch a cold before their honeymoon.) She fired of a message of return and gathered all the blankets in one hand before offering the other to Lilith. She took it and hauled herself up off the grass, brushing the needles off her pants.

"I still want them to come," Lilith whispered. "Okay baby girl, but if they try anything..." Mary's threat was clear and Lilith couldn't help but chuckle. The return to the house was quick, and Lenna gathered her two girls into a hug the minute they walked through the door. Mary refused to let go of Lilith's hand (which made undressing for a shower difficult, getting dressed in pajamas even more so) and pulled Lilith into her side once they climbed into bed. She hoped tomorrow would go just as Lilith had planned.

Mary and Lilith had very different plans for the day of their wedding. Lilith didn't believe in many of the stupid cliched routines, but she still thought that Mary shouldn't see her outfit until she was walking down the aisle so after breakfast, Beatrice came to whisk Lilith off for a nice relaxing day. (Lenna had texted Bea last night about the unexpected arrivals and so Bea was going to do everything in her power to make sure Lilith remembered she had a new family if she didn't want to make amends with her mothers.) They got their nails done and enjoyed a late lunch, but the day was pretty uneventful for Lilith (except that all she could think about was the fact that her _mothers_ were here and Delilah was going to be there and, and, and...) When the time finally came to get married, she checked her hair one last time, the braid was simple yet elegant, and her outfit was wrinkle free, all she could ask for really. When she met Lenna at the entryway to their little bookshop (the place where Mary had first met Lilith after stumbling in looking for shelter from a hail storm), Lilith couldn't help but smile. She was excited to finally be legally tied to the Delacroix family, to ditch the de la Cruz name and build her new reputation as Mary's _wife._ The ceremony was short and sweet, but the kiss between Lilith and Mary was not, until Ava gave a not so subtle cough that "we are in _public_ you two." Hand in hand, Mary and Lilith Delacroix walked out of the bookshop and into the rest of their lives together as _wives_


End file.
